St. Matthias Anglican Church, located in Hastings, Christ Church Parish in Barbados, is constructed on three quarters of an acre of land, donated by John Mayers in 1837. Mr Mayers was a clerk of the House of Assembly in Barbados and also the chief builder of the church.

The church was originally built as a chapel of ease, but its scale was quite grand when compared to some of the other chapels and even some of the parish churches in Barbados at the time. The total cost of the church's construction had amounted to four thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds (£4250.00), considerably more than was spent in that era on similar places of worship in the island. (In fact, the other chapels of ease only had an average cost of about seven hundred and fifty pounds (£750.00)). In October 1848, with the interior at last complete, the church was officially opened; the dedication took place in 1850.

St Matthias Church was in fact an impressive three thousand, three hundred and seventy five square feet (3375 sq ft). Its large size may have been due to the fact that at one point in 1850, it was suggested that a new parish was to be established, with St Matthias Church serving as the official parish church. However this new parish never became a reality, so the status of St Matthias Church as a chapel of ease remained unchanged.

St Matthias, like so many places in Barbados, has an interesting but solemn story associated with it. Its cemetery was consecrated in 1850, at the same time as the church, but just four years later it was closed as a consequence of the yellow fever epidemic that gripped Bridgetown in 1853-54. On November 10, 1852, the frigate HMS Dauntless sailed out of the island of St. Thomas. By the time Dauntless reached Barbados and anchored in Carlisle Bay, an outbreak of the dreaded yellow fever held sway on board the frigate. The deadly disease claimed the lives of sixty-seven of her crew, and the Dauntless didn't leave Barbados' waters until March 1853. It was during that year that the terrifying epidemic spread rampant throughout the island.

The fifteen officers and the captain's steward, who were among those who died from yellow fever on board the HMS Dauntless, are interred in St Matthias' cemetery, and their tomb serves as a somber reminder of this terrible period in the history of Barbados. The marble tomb which marks their final resting place was given by the Royal Navy and can still be found in the south section of the churchyard. In addition to the sailors who fell victim to the yellow fever outbreak, the cemetery also holds many of the ordinary folk - although today most of them unmarked - who succumbed to this terrible disease. On the north side of the church, a lovely shade garden is found, where lush trees grace a cairn of memorial bricks of more recent date.

Due largely to the close proximity of the Barbados Garrison to St Matthias Church, the two have always been closely linked. From the very beginning, St Matthias served as a chapel for the Barbados Garrison since there was none within the Garrison compound itself; for this privilege the British Government paid the tidy sum of seventy five pounds (£75) annually. Indeed, there was such a close relationship between the institutions that the Chaplain assigned to the Garrison was permitted to conduct twice-daily services at the chapel for the soldiers. Even today the church maintains a very close relationship with the Barbados Defense Force and as such, the rector of St Matthias Church also serves as the chaplain for Barbados' major military force.

Now one hundred and sixty years old, the church was recently selected as 'a place of architectural and historic interest' by the Barbados National Trust; a fitting accolade for such a beautiful piece of Barbadian folk history.

St Matthias Church is located just a short walk to the north of Hastings Esplanade, so the next time you're taking a lazy stroll along the beach on the boardwalk, nip across the road and up the gap, to check out this significant monument to the history of Barbados.